Tempo/Smiles

0AM7L@SIA
May 11, 2006, 2:41 p.m. (Message 45238)

>From the audience's point of view, a head bobbing out of sync is much more
noticeable than smiles (or lack of). And if they're observant, they will
see that the 'smiles' are pasted on. We dancers have been so conditioned to
'smile,' that you can see a phony one a mile away. It's not a smile at all,
it's just a showing of teeth.
And when you're dancing on a field or in an auditorium, from a distance
anyone can spot a body out of sync a lot easier than they can see whether
the person is smiling!
And, BTW, I'm not describing beginners. We can forgive their flaws. I am
speaking of people 'experienced' enough to be on a demonstration team.
Margaret Sarna
Michigan

I guess it all depends on the purpose of your demo group. Our dance group
does demos for various events, usually at no charge, or for a donation. Our
purpose is to share our love of the dancing and interest others to join us.
We don't have a "team" as such, but we encourage all our members to join in
the practice and performance, if they wish to participate. Some are
excellent dancers, some intermediate, some relatively new. All are welcome
to take part.
We do try to preform well, but sharing our pleasure in the music and the
dancing, as well as showing people that they, too, can do this is of utmost
importance to us. If there are mistakes made (and we all make them from
time to time), we smile and go on. You wouldn't believe the number of
people that come up to us and say, "You all look like you're having so much
fun. I think maybe I could do that."
We had a lady see our group at Tartan Day this year, get some information on
our classes, and join us last week. She announced that she had the
proverbial two left feet, but it looked like so much fun that she just had
to give it a try. She thoroughly enjoyed the evening finding her way
through things as a total newcomer, and while sitting out Trip to Bavaria to
catch her breath, said we were all amazing! She's coming back and bringing
her husband. Believe me, we weren't all amazing, but there were lots of
smiles, and she left feeling like she was already a dancer.
Donna Ferguson
Kimbolton, OH